Internal combustion engine



Oct. 13, 1931. L.. MYRICK, .1R

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed July 23, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet l IN VEN TOR. 0cm/vaan MVR/cn, de. BY

ATTORNEYS.

Oct. 13, 1931. L. MYRlcK. JR

INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE Filed'July 2?., 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 1N VENTOR.

BY Loczfwoop MYR/cir. JR.

A TTORNE YS.

Oct. 1.3,- 1931. L, MYRlCK, JR 1,827,482

INTERNAL coNBUsTroN ENGINE Filed July 23, 1928 I Y s sheets-sheet sl j@ 5 za 24 A TTORNE YS.

' i on thetwo-cycle principle. and they cylinders p are therefore scavenged gas.

Patented oct; 13, 19.31',Vy

" 'NTVVERNAL coMBUsfTIoN ENGINE;

appi'iaueaaia" muy yses, v My invention relatesto improvements in internal combustionl engines, and it consists 4in the combinations, constructions, `and 'arrangements hereinafter described i and v claimed, f

f An objectof my inventionfis to provide an engine to be used in power houses, in which a liquid replaces the conventional "solid piston. rlhe device primarily consists of an oscillating annular ringnot quite half fullof some liquid such aswa'ter.v YThis liquid could be molten metal or other chemically. stable substancaY f y ,y K v The liquid withinthe ring ferme twocompartments,v each of which kacts jas .a cylinder for receiving .thefgasr f. :The engine works with fresh air after each exhaust-and prior to the intake of new rlfhe ring oscillates during its 'joperatiom and I operatively connect it toaV crank shaft so that the latter will be turned continuously in one direction while the' engine is operating. The engine has many advantages which will be set forth after the construction. andl operation-have been described, because these f advantages will -be 'more apparent i after a more full understanding of theengine is had.

Other objects and advantages'gwillf appear in the following speciiication, and the 'novel features ofthe device will be particularly f pointedout inthe appended claims. i

ring;

: My inventio'nfis illustrated'in thejaccom- 'fpa'nying drawings forming apart offthis'ap'- plication, in which .Y f

Y Figure lis a side elevation of the engine;

. Figure 2 isav sectionbalong the 'line 2- 2 of'Figure 11;Y n y Figure Slis a verticalfsectionthrough the' y liigure l is" as-ection along the ,line

ofFigure 3; and@ f ,f Figure' is; a`V section along the line 5- 5'of` Figure-l." f n l f v'lnoarrying .outmy inventiom-l provide a supporting ,base indicated "generally kat', 1y

(see Figure l) L j :'Ilhisj pbase,l has twov bearings Z-an'd 3.1In/the bearingZ Iy mount a shaft 192s. serial Noi 294,711. d

l:v upon 'which is mounted ai ring 15 `of shape shown in Figure 3. f

Figures lyandY 4 show `the `construction of i the ringy 'and its associate mechanism.- `lt willbe noted that the ring is continuous with the exception of a smalllpartition 6. .'The

partition 6 vforms the headoftwofcompression chambers 7 andS, and these chambers are i v I kept separated ,fromy .each other byaliquid y 9. The ring standsin a vertical plane, and,` therefore, the liquid will assumethe position shown'in Figure 3., I have shown the level of the rliquid as being higher on the left-hand -side'of the ring in order to illustrate the 10p-` erationof the machine. r This feature will l'be more aclearly `set forthas the specification roceeds;y v; L The shaftei's rigidly mounted ,in thebeare ing 2,*fandthe ring 5y oscillate's vupon this shaft.' Bearings V1'()` Figurel) A Y `IThevr ringv has Y two intake valves '11*y and^12 disposed at theheads ofi-the; chambers fraud 8. VSprings land 111 urgefthese valvesinto closedposition.- Arms 15 16 move'the valves-into open position at predetermined intervalsf The;l arms are mounted 'upon shafts `17 Aand 18 (seeFigure V3) and Figure 1 showshow theshats Carry arms 19 and 2O that yare' ractuated by cam followers 21 and 22. In Figure 4,1 show the shaft 1`8,`arni -20 and f earn fol1ower22 as beingfoperativelyicon# v i and are arranged inaposition torpermitthe n `exhaustl gases to pass thereby, and also topre'- support the ring'}(s ee ".exhaust valvesy l vent any appreciableiamount of airffrom' escaping vwhenthe cylinders are scavenged.

The valves 25 and 26 are spring pressedv (note the springs '27 andf28) These-springs yield# ingly hold 'the' valve/stemskin contactwith ried.l by shafts 31 and 32, andFi'gure lshows `howthese shafts carryvcam followers l3S `and Sel that are incontactf .cams and 36 to open and close at the proper time intervals.

The four cams are rotatively mounted on the shaft 4 and have a sprocket Wheel 37 in* tegral therewith.. Aroundthis sprocketl disposea chain 38, and this chain is passed around a sprocket wheel 39 (see Figure 2), the latter being mounted on a worm 42. The

-, worm is mounted upon a spline 41 forming a part of a crank shaft 40, which in turn is l timing of the valves.

rota tively mounted in the bearings 3.

I provide means for advancing or retard# ing the cams, and this is shown in Figure 2.

l rlhe splined portion41 of the crank shaft 40 carries the worm 42.

The splinedV portion 41 prevents rotative movement between the worm 42 and the portion 'but permits longitudinal movement. rlhe sprocket 39 is mounted upon the worm 42. It will be seen from this construction that the movement of the worm along the spline will rotate the sprocket 39 with respect to the crank shaft and in this way vary the l show the worm'42 as being provided with an annular groove 43 in which a linger 44 rides. This finger may be nianuallyinoved and held in adjusted position `bynieans not shown. The moving of the-linger will vary the timing mechanismfof the valves. l l y l will now describe the mechanism for scavengingthe chambers 7 and 8. ln Figure4 l` show a fan 45 rotated by a` sprocket 46 which in turn is driven by a sprocket chain 47, a sprocket wheel 48 (see Figure2) and the crank shaft 40.- The fan is housed at 49 and a conduit 50 leads therefrom to a pas# sageway 51 (seel Figure 3). Air is being forced through this conduit so long as the engine operates, and this air is delivered into the chambers 7 and 8 depending upon whether the valve 11 or valve 12 is open.

T he means for delivering a combustible gas to the chamber is also shown in Figure 3. Gras flows through either of the two pipes 52 and 53 to a common pipe 54. Valves 55 and 56 control the flow of gas and in turn are controlled by the arms 15 and 16. Any other suitable constructionwhich will feed gas into the passageway 51 at the proper time intervals will answerthepurpose. The valves 55 and 56 are so connected with the arms 15 and 16 as to open after the valves 11 and 12 have first been opened a short time.

A The' means for deliver-ing liquid tothe interior of the ring 5 to replenish the supply lost through evaporation, consists of a funnel. 57 (see Figure 4), a passageway 58in' the .shaft 4, a pipe 591leading from the passageway into a second funnel 60V (see Figure 3) and a conduit 61 leading from the second funnel into the interior of the ring 5. A valve 62 permits the fluid to pass only in one direction.

The ring 5 oscillates upon the shaft '4, and this rocking motion is converted into a unidirectional rotary motion by means of connecting rods 63 which have their free ends connected to the ring and to the crank shaft 40. A fly wheel 64 may be used for providing a uniform movement to the crank shaft 40.

Fromthe foregoing description of the various parts of the device, the operation there of may be readily understood. y

Let us suppose that the liquid has risen in the compression chamber 7 and has comiressed the air or 0as mixture and that this has been ignited by the spark plug 65. The force of explosion will drive the liquid down and around tothe otherside and at the same time will drive t-he c linder or rino 5 in the opposite direction. During a little more than a half of the stroke, the exhaust valve 26 of the chamber 8 is kept open and the burnt gases in this chamber are expelled by the rising liquid.

As soon as the pressure on this side, i. e., the pressure in the chamber 8, is down nearly to atmospheric pressure, the intake valve 12 opens andfresh airfrom the passageway 51 is blown in under pressure from the air coinpressor or fan 45.

explosion soon stops the flow of liquid into the chamber 48 and sends it in the opposite direction. rl`he same cycle is then repeated for the chamber 7. i

.It willbe seen from/tliisthat each end of the cylinder or ring 5 is a two-cycle engine, the two together being equivalent to four four-cycle cylinders. rllhe internal friction of the device is low because the friction of a moving liquid should be much less than that of a solid. There are two eXplo sions .for each complete oscillation, and, therefore, the device will deliver considerable power.

Since the Vcylinder or ring 5 is half the time moving inthe same direction as the cams 23, 24, 35 and 36 and the other half of Vthe time moving in the opposite direc This airv scavenges the Vcylinder or chamber 8 of burnt gases above 5 .tidnj'theams "valves one ber would have 'to be than i thosefr the; gathers; Liv

...pi/vangen' @sans onof soa-"there isaiastivemotionojf the cams 'to thefcylinders of 90"` during one c :scillation and 27 0 during the1next, se thatthe cams for one 'side would have'tolo'e approximately three times as sharp as the camsforrthe other, thefdifl'ernc'ef"betweenr the two. sets of cams being less f than fo'r'those Vsections ofthe cams either opening the valvesjort allowingjthem to close while the cylinders Var`ej 'rnov"`ing.'atan angular velocity below `their average. The diiier ence isv greater for those sections of the either Aopeningthe valves or allowingv them to fclose while'the cylinders aremovingat anlangular 'velocity above their angular ve-v Y, locityabove their'average".V Forf purposes of simplicity, however, l the cams yin Figures 4 andl `5 have beenvdrawn as if the vcylinders 'were atall times inoving' at'a'jconstant angullarv velocity.

y At this point wellnote thethreeV 1 positions into whinhthelring 5 moves. ffThe Vlfroken line A infFigure l represents a neutralf lposition,thel lin'efB', Athe extreme `leftlhandv position and the line` C, the "extreme y righth'and position. The ring 5 k'swings th'roughlanarc of. 90o, althoVV thisy couldbe 'Varied.' This lsvvlingisV sutlicientto throw the connecting' ro'ds 63 `adistance. far enough to swingvthe crankshaft L4() through onefhalf' off a circle.V The return movement ofthe ring 5 swings the'fcrankshaft lthrough the other half of the circle. Inthis way an oscillating movement ofthe ring will-give a uni-directional drive to the'E crank shaft;

In starting the engine,.if fuel and air were f' mixed before ventering the cylinder,the startlng would occasion` no diiiiculty.

The engine Vneeds no water cooling vjacket because the water 9 reaches all parts of the cylinder and no other cooling is therefore necessary.y

The heat "which in other engines y is lost is` in this case used to generate steam and thus to increase the pressure on' the power high temperature-justifies an exceptional efficiency. j v

Theengine lhas ashort intake andy a very..

stroke. Since, however, there' is nooil lm to be maintained, the operating. temperature need not be limited to the boiling point of the water or to the flash point of some oil; hence some other liquid .with a high boiling point such as molten aluminum, cryolite, or even vsodium chloride could be used instead. In fact, the only limit to the operating temper-v ature lis the breaking point of the cylinder walls and not the breaking point of an oil iilm. This feature vof operating at a very expectation of long expansionf The drawings shows the expansion as being almost three times the length of the intake, and this co'uld be greatly vincreased if desired. .This point is also conessie te Sh'igh emae'y; i' fn" Careers variagl the ypower .stroke 'is they same asVL the ,intake stroke." The present engine operates at a however,vr there vis no, problem in., the', present engine ofk .cooling the piston and-no need of allowingffor piston expansion. There would ble strokeengine in which th e*power strokev His just twice thatr of the intake,` 25% less'jfuel f is needed for .the same horsepower aswhen. f

very high .compression which would-permitv `f Yit to be worked in thesame'manner asa Diesel-engine. lUnlike:thelarge:Dieselienginey therefore be no .loss of compression-whenrh'e engine is ,-cold. The' seal'of Compression would be absolutely `perfect because aA liquid Y isused. `It would also beunaffected@by'thev l wearof the cylinder walls'.

f Considerable powers lost s engine in compressing the air. In the present invention, the compressionisdoneby the "niA the 'DieselrfV i rliquid and not by the crank shaft.I Instead of reversing .the directionfof thecylinder when the liquidi is highest inl it, could bef I. reversed at the instantthe `pressure"ofthe compressed air equals the 'pressure in the expanding gases. Thatis to say, the vrworking pressure on either cylinder head, and hence on the crank shaft, would be from the instant i y the pressure inl one @compression 'chamber should s exceed the pressure in fthe other con-r in the firstI chamber should be exceeded by f the pressure in the. other chamber. Itilwoul'd l therefore be as great'aspossible.

.Compression in the present inventioniloc- *10o v curs `while ythe piston' is 1movingat itsm'aximum yelocity. It therefore takes afarshortertime and; allows 'much less heat. to"v be wastedy than is true in-the1standard engine. Again, thetorque obtainedin the ordinary gas engine-during the second half of the power stroke is much less than that obtained as -longto move half waylwh'en they pressure Furthermore, Vthe fuel vcould the;` Diesel principleisj used, the instant the np-ressurev in' thecompression chamber equals the pressure of theexpanding gases, notwhen 'the pressure reachesk four to ii've hundred I pounds." This `changewould give ya longer .'tinierfor. combustion. v. I f-thel liquid lwere water,.there might be no advantage in `introducing the fuel so early,1but if vitwere molten metal :or cryolite,` the temperature `of the air wou'ldbehigh lenough tolstartfcoinbustion *be-` fore the `pressure had'be'comegreat. This '95 pression chamber, toftheinstantY the pressure `longer timeshould mean more complete com bnstion and also Van excess ofl air less greatthalnis required in the conventionalDiesel engine. This would result in a,highermean effective .pressureduring the power stroke. Y

lt should also be noted that the fuelcould bepulverized coal. l-litherto this kindof fuel has not been successfully used in inter# nal combustion engines because the fuel is not only gritty in itself but leaves a gritty ash, both of which cut through the oilfilm and quick-ly score the cylinder walls. This difficulty wouldv not exist in the present invention because the piston requires no lubrication. The valves would work efficiently vbecause there is no oil to cause the pulverized coal to stick to them.

Summing up, high ofliciency shouldbe had for the followingreasons:`

1. Low internal friction; V2. ,Low cooling losses;

3, High operating temperature (if some other liquid than water is used);

4. Very long expansion;

5. High compression;

6. Perfect seal for compression; i 7. Less power lost in compressing; and

S. More kperfect combustion and higher mean effective pressure if the ignition is of the vDiesel type. Y

It should also Vbe noted that the engine could be used as a steam engine or for the expansion of any other vgas compressed externally to the engine i v Although l have shown and described one embodiment of my inventioinit is to be under-stood that the same is susceptible of various changes, and I reserve the right vto employ such changes as may come within the scope of the appended claims.

l claim: l. An enginel comprising a. ring-shaped cylinder having a transverse partition forIning two cylinder heads, and a fluid in said ring .and constituting a piston common to beth cylinder heads. v i .2. An engine comprising. a shaft, a ring- `shaped cylinder oscillatable thereon, av partition, a. uidconstituting a moveable piston common to both cylinder heads formed by sai-d partition.

3. An engine comprising a shaft, a ringshaped cylinder oscillatablethereon,a partition, a fluid constituting a moveable piston .common to both cylinder heads formed'by said partition, and intake and exhaust valves disposed adjacent toy each end of said ring.

t; A n engine comprising a. shaft,a ringshaped cylinder oscillatable thereon, a part- Vtion forming the ring into two cylinder heads, a fluid in said ring and constituting shaft and vconnectionsbetween said crank shaft and said ring. Y

' 5. Anengine comprising a circular-shaped cylinder,- a. fluid therein andconstitutinga moveable piston, intake valves disposed at the ends of said cylinder, exhaust valves disposed in said cylinder and means for initially feeding fresh air and theny gas through said intake l'valves while they are open.

6. ln an engine, a circular-shaped cylinder, valves disposed adjacent to each end of the cylinder, a fluid in said cylinder and constituting a piston, means for exploding gases in each end ofsaid cylinder for causing. it to oscillate, and cams for opening said valves.

"7. Anengine comprising a. circular-shaped cylinder', a fluid in said cylinder and con'- stituting a piston, means for exploding gases in each end of said cylinder for causing it to oscillate, a crankshaft, 'and means connecting said cylinder with said crankshaft so as to cause the latter to rotate continuously in one direction as said y'cylinder is oscillated.

8. lnan engine, a fixed shaft, an arcuateshaped cylinder oscillatable thereon, a fluid in said cylinder and constituting a piston, means for alternatelyv exploding a combustible charge in each end of the cylinder, a a funnel communicating with said cylinder, a check valve for the funnel, anda fluid conduit leading through the shaft and emptying into the funnel,

LOCKWGOD MYRICK, JR.

a moving piston common to both cylinder f heads, means for delivering gases to and for exhausting gases from said heads, and a crank for 

